Birmingham City’s Alfie May made the move to the League One club from Charlton Athletic in the summer after initially being close to a move to Huddersfield Town. However, the striker has been subject to abuse since departing The Valley and has spoken to the media ahead of his return this weekend.
The former Cheltenham Town goal scorer has warned that the true story surrounding his exit from the Addicks will come out. It has been claimed that manager Nathan Jones made the decision to sell May in the summer wanting a change of approach despite the player picking up last season’s golden boot.
Huddersfield Town were reportedly close to a deal to sign the forward in the summer only to be beaten by Birmingham City at the final stages. The 31-year-old has spoken of his desire to live closer to Doncaster, where his family resides which was one key contributing factor in his decision to move, but also hinted at details which are not yet in the public domain.
What has Alfie May said about Charlton Athletic?
May was asked about his thoughts on Charlton in quotes provided by BirminghamLive:
“They’re a massive club, an ex-Premier League club. They have a manager in there that’s a very good coach. At the minute their results are not showing in the league.
“It’s a hard one talking about Charlton to be honest. I was only there for a year and some of the abuse when I left… they don’t know half of the story.
“I think I said it last time, eventually the story will come out. The club itself is fantastic, I really enjoyed my time there. The players and the fans supported me so much. It’s a local club to me. There’s a bit of frustration, hopefully I can score Saturday. Will I celebrate? I won’t be celebrating.”
On potentially starting against his former side:
“You could ask the 25 lads in the changing room if they want to start and everyone is going to say yes,”
“The competition is high and you have to fight for your shirt. I think that’s really important.
“The togetherness we have in the group is fantastic. Everybody wants to do well. We want to go back up as a club and the fans are on that journey with us.”
What happened during his move to Birmingham City?
There is clearly a bit of bad blood between May and someone to do with the move from Charlton. Whether that is Jones or someone else at the club or something different entirely he has somewhat suggested that he feels hard done by following the abuse that has followed. It is always natural for football fans to feel aggrieved seeing their star player make a move to another promotion hopeful in the same league, but it appears as though the agreement was mutual across all parties.
The Addicks manager wanted to go down a different approach, May wanted to move further north, Birmingham wanted the best possible options for their team. It will be interesting to see if/when these additional details the player has alluded to do come out and what the reaction will be.